SQL Server Blog

The day after Orcas Beta1 appeared for public download reports appeared on the ADO.NET Technology Preview forum that the EDM Wizard (that is, "Add New Item/ADO.NET Entity Data Model) wasn't working. And, sure enough, if you choose "Generate From Database" and carefully choose which tables to use, you get a model with no entities. If […]

SQLCE 3.5 comes with an ADO.NET data provider that supports entities, by supporting the ADO.NET 3.5 entity data model (EDM). I noticed this in Orcas March CTP with the inclusion of a new DLL, System.Data.SqlCe.Entities. Although the DLL was there, there was no support in Visual Studio for any provider but SqlClient, and trying to […]

One of the latest developments in the SQLCE space is the beta for ADO.NET Sync Services. Sync Services ships as a standalone download, runnable on Visual Studio 2005 and is also built-in to Visual Studio Orcas. Both versions require a new version of SQLCE, version 3.5. This runs side-by-side with SQLCE 3.1, although both version's […]

So now that I've found SQLCE and know which version I have, what can I do with it besides use the ADO.NET and OLE DB APIs? Well, turns out I need some auxiliary pieces. If you use 3.0, the pieces "come with", but when you upgrade to 3.1, you need to upgrade these. I must […]

As part of a project, I've had occasion to look at the SQL Server Compact Edition in earnest. Although I've taken a cursory glance before this, its my first attempt to put all the pieces into place. So I thought I'd write it down as I went along. SQL Server Compact Edition's original name was […]

I always look through the SQL Server 2005 samples with each new incantation, and always seem to find things in there that are new and interesting. In the SP2 version, the samples included a new sample database, “AdventureWorks Light”. Also known as AdventureWorksLT. Because folks that teach SQL Server do have a bunch of canned […]

I just returned from Microsoft Developer and ITPro days in Ghent, Belgium. The hospitality was great, and the event itself drew some big crowds of top notch developers and IT pros. Ghent was an amazing city, with medieval architecture sharing the city with modern buildings. Besides the four talks on SQL Server 2005 and ADO.NET […]